REPRINT FROM JULY 12, 2010 BioCentury THE BERNSTEIN REPORT ON BIOBUSINESS Article Reprint Page 1 of 8 Strategy Biogen Idec’s agenda By Karen Bernstein Pharmaceuticals Corp. failed to create shareholder value and Editor-in-Chief that the biotech might need to be split up into a neurology Of all the first generation big cap biotechs, Biogen Idec Inc. company and a cancer company. has always been known as the stodgy one. Ironically, it has taken He also noted that the company hadn’t introduced a new the intervention of activist investors — generally thought of as product since 2004, saying the R&D group needed to be green eyeshade wearers with a singular focus on the short-term reinvigorated, and called for an examination of Biogen Idec’s cost bottom line — to finally bring in a quintessential biotech CEO structure. with the kind of R&D background that is still at the heart of what In June of this year, a third Icahn nominee was elected to the biotech is all about. board. At the end of June, the company an- With three Icahn directors, several nounced it was hiring George Scangos as “A question I get a lot is that new directors chosen by Biogen Idec, and CEO. Scangos, who had been president I don’t have any commercial a new CEO, chapter two now begins. and CEO of Exelixis Inc. since 1996, is a microbiologist by training. He was previ- experience. I find that Leadership ously president of Bayer Biotechnology. question misguided.” The hiring brings to a close the first After three years of fights between chapter in Carl Icahn’s involvement in the George Scangos, Biogen Idec investors and management, both in public company, which began when he made an and in private, of aborted efforts to sell the initial investment in August 2007. Soon company, of changes to the board, of talk thereafter, the company put itself up for sale, a process that of splitting up the company, it finally looks — at least from the proved unsuccessful. outside — as if everyone left standing is on the same page. In February 2008, Icahn proposed three nominees for the Given where Biogen Idec was in 2007 before the turmoil board of directors and proposed to restructure the board in began, the facts argue that the company was in need of more than hopes to restarting efforts to sell the company. He also said that a little shaking up. if the company “failed to act to enhance shareholder value” he The company has produced far less over the years than its would come back the following year to nominate four more brethren from the first biotech generation. Its nearest comps are directors. Amgen Inc. and Genentech Inc., and Biogen Idec has under- Icahn didn’t get his initial slate elected and indeed came back performed both of them. the following year with four more nominees, two of whom were In terms of products on the market, Amgen has seven elected to the board in June 2009. Among Icahn’s critiques at the marketed drugs for which it breaks out sales, including five that time were that the 2004 merger of Biogen Inc. and Idec See next page BioCentury, THE BERNSTEIN REPORT ON BIOBUSINESS REPRINT FROM JULY 12, 2010 PAGE 2 OF 8 Strategy, resentatives on the board, echoed this cern,” Scangos told BioCentury. “But I from previous page view. talked to every member of the board, “George is an excellent manager who many of them more than once. I think sell more than $1 billion annually. Genen- will focus on execution in the commercial most of the acrimonious stuff is behind tech has nine marketed products, includ- operations and bringing value to Biogen them and they’re trying to work together ing four with more than $1 billion in sales. Idec shareholders,” Denner told BioCen- to take the company forward. Everybody Biogen Idec has only four products on the tury. “For instance, I think that he will is looking forward to a new start.” market, two of which sell more than $1 demand that shareholders get a good He added: “Some people are represen- billion a year. return from R&D investment.” tatives of Carl Icahn and others are not. The company has not had a commer- Notably, Scangos agreed to work for a But if I didn’t know that going in, I wouldn’t cial launch since 2004, and 2009 revenue board that is now clearly focused on have been able to tell. They’re all con- growth was only 7%. Non-GAAP EPS getting investors a return on their money. cerned with the same issues.” growth was 13%, reflecting stock buy- “When I started the process this obvi- Kurt von Emster of venBio LLC, who backs and a reduction in SG&A. For 2010, ously was an issue of considerable con- See next page the company has been guiding for reve- nue growth in the mid-single digits. Blockbuster drug counts Biogen Idec also has let its key Avonex franchise slip. In 2008, Copaxone glati- Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) has two drugs with more than $1 billion in revenue, while Amgen ramer from Teva Pharmaceutical In- Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) has five and Genentech Inc., which was acquired by Roche in 2009, has four. dustries Ltd. became the world’s best- Product revenues attributed to the company for 2009 are listed below in brackets. (A) 2009 U.S. sales selling multiple sclerosis therapeutic, even figures reported by Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) converted from CHF to U.S. dollars using though most observers would argue that the Dec. 31, 2009 exchange rate of CHF = $0.9654 Biogen Idec’s Avonex interferon beta-1a is the better drug. In the U.S., Copaxone Biogen Idec Amgen Genentech (A) sales grew an average of 25% annually Avonex [$2.3B] Enbrel [$3.5B] Avastin [$3.2B] during 2005-09 vs. 11% for Avonex. Rituxan [$1.1B] Neulasta [$3.4B] Rituxan [$2.9B] Meanwhile, Biogen Idec has been Tysabri [$776M] Aranesp [$2.7B] Herceptin [$1.5B] spending about 30% of revenues on R&D, with less to show for it. Amgen and Ge- Fumaderm [$50M] Epogen [$2.6B] Lucentis [$1.2B] nentech spend about 20%. Amgen has 28 Neupogen [$1.3B] Xolair [$599M] NCEs in its pipeline, Genentech had 21 Sensipar [$651M] Tarceva [$503M] prior to being acquired by Roche, and Biogen Idec has 19. Vectibix [$233M] Activase/TNKase [$397M] Thus it would not take an activist to Other [$110M] Nutropin prods [$377M] suggest that someone needed to take a Pulmozyme [$291M] fresh look at the company from top to bottom, to revive its commercial fortunes, to fill the leadership void in the R&D Avonex vs. Copaxone organization that has been vacant since October 2009, and to rationalize R&D Copaxone glatiramer overtook Avonex interferon beta-1a to become the best-selling multiple spending. sclerosis drug in 2008. From 2005 to 2009, global sales of Copaxone grew at an average annual rate While many of Biogen Idec’s problems of 25% vs. 11% for Avonex. In the U.S., Copaxone sales have grown by 25% compared with 11% for are commercial, the board has clearly Avonex. $M concluded this does not mean the compa- ny needs a CEO with a commercial back- Ç ground. $YRQH[Ã86 $YRQH[Ã([86 Not surprisingly, Scangos agrees. Ç “A question I get a lot is that I don’t &RSD[RQHÃ86 have any commercial experience,” he told &RSD[RQHÃ([86 BioCentury last week. “I find that question Ç misguided. It’s a CEO position — not a head of sales and marketing. The right person needs to know how to manage Ç things that are not in their background.” At the same time, he added, “my com- Ç ing here shouldn’t be interpreted as Bio- gen Idec emphasizing R&D. It is an R&D- based business, but the first priority is Ç expanding and protecting the commercial franchise. A CEO has to manage the Ç whole company.” Alex Denner, one of Carl Icahn’s rep- BioCentury, THE BERNSTEIN REPORT ON BIOBUSINESS REPRINT FROM JULY 12, 2010 PAGE 3 OF 8 Strategy, Products at Hologic Inc., and Mun- Teva is trying to block that version from from previous page schauer had been chairman of the depart- coming to market. ment of neurology at SUNY Buffalo Second, Novartis’ fingolimod, the first doesn’t hold shares in the company, had School of Medicine. oral MS treatment, is likely to come on the the same impression. If it were just a question of getting market soon. In June, FDA’s Peripheral “It was a unanimous decision by the more face time with doctors and making and Central Nervous System Drugs Advi- board to bring him in and he will be sure the company had all the data needed sory Committee overwhelmingly recom- working well with Icahn because they to back up its claims, the job of fixing mended approval of the sphingosine 1- vetted him through the process,” he said. Avonex sales would be relatively straight- phosphate (S1P) receptor agonist for first- “The acceptance of George Scangos as forward. line use. The PDUFA date is Sept. 21. CEO means they will be more willing and But two big challenges complicate the If other doctors are as enthusiastic as able to do strategic business develop- picture. the panelists, fingolimod will take over the ment, in-licensing, partnering and what One is that Copaxone is approaching first-line market from Avonex, Copaxone have you without a fine focus on earn- its patent cliff and will go generic.